The older we get, the more life experiences are our preferred birthday/anniversary gifts to each other. This year we celebrated Merrill’s birthday exploring Germany and finding her Hof roots.
“Paul does such a great job of selecting hotels and restaurants. In Munich he selected Adina Hotel It was a five-minute walk from the Ostbanhof train stop.”
To our surprise we found it in the top of a high-rise building. Reception was on the fourteenth floor as was the restaurant and bar area. What a great view of the city! Our room was on the 9th floor.
God moment: the room we were to get was not ready, so they gave us another with a better view! It featured an entire window wall overlooking the Roncalli Circus and the Umadum Observation wheel. It is one of the largest Ferris wheels in the world. One rotation takes thirty minutes. The enticing thing about this Ferris wheel is that each car has a table for dining. What a lovely and romantic place to have a picnic.
Next to the Ferris wheel was the Roncalli Circus. It played twice a day. We loved the view people watching and listening to the traditional circus music, clapping and cheers.
One block away was a container village of shops and restaurants. The walls were painted by local artists and offered a great visual stroll.
Mariss Italian restaurant next to the Gambino Hotel offered delicious Italian with a Ferris wheel view.
Right next door was a gourmet supermarket with an incredible choice of international wines and specialty foods.
The train near our hotel took us to city center where we watched the amazing glockenspiel that played at 11 am, noon and 5 pm. Street musicians played familiar movie theme songs and we were just steps away from the Marienplatz Rathaus.
There we had our delicious apple strudel and savored the gothic vaulted ceilings, painted fresco walls, and stained-glass windows. An ancient hand carved wine cask was the centerpiece of the room.
The market is just off the Marienplatz. It has a delightful Maypole, Biergarten, restaurants and shops that are open Monday through Saturday. Posted hours were 7 am – 8:30opent we found that most of the shops opened around 10 am.
Most stores are closed on Sundays there, so we use that day for the Hop On Hop Off Bus. It takes us around the city and gives us the history as well as the location of places we might want to revisit. We used the Big Blue Bus. There are many options. Big Blue Bus was excellent.
Lunch at the Augustrainer Stammhaus – from 1328 – was like stepping back in time. We were seated at the Stammtisch Table (the community table for locals.)
